I know all of us have a story about a manager or a supervisor that we can't stand. Let it all out here so you don't explode during work and murder everyone in a fit of rage.

Back when I was starting out my career I worked for one of the weirdest individuals I've ever called a boss.

Physically, he was a freak. 6'8'', 175 pounds, and he wore the same leather jacket, dirty undershirt, and wrangler jeans combo every day. He was old, and his hair was balding, white, and always unkept. He had a very low, almost baritone voice. When I first walked into the companies building, I saw that half the office was empty, and sort of messy, like a building might look during a move. I later found out that this boss laid off 80 people a month before I came, and the mess was from people taking their stuff and being escorted immediately out of the building.

This guy had no idea how to run a company. His "business" was in its 12th year and hadn't turned a profit in at least 4. I heard his house was mortgaged 2x over, and when we would get food on certain days provided by the company, they would use alternating credit cards to prevent the limit on either from being exceeded, this company was on its last legs. He hired friends into top positions within the company who were obviously not qualified. His brother was the lead IT guy, but it was basically a "for-show" position because he knew nothing, and instead had this little asian guy do everything, he was an intern.

He also spent most of the day smoking cigs, Lucky Strikes. One time I went downstairs to the outdoor patio area of the building and sat down to take some rest from work. He was out there smoking. I thought I'd ask him for a cig, and he casually pulled one from his leather jacket, and handed it to me (his hand was near my head because he was so tall). I took one puff of the cig, and I almost barfed right there. The cig had this nasty taste to it when you took a puff, it was a combination of a normal cig, onions, and feet. I tried to take a few more puffs but I just couldn't stomach it. So when he turned around, I flicked the nasty cig into the gravel and went back to work.

One day, this guy decided we'd work overtime unpaid. That was the beginning of my deteriorating relationship with him. I was young and stupid, and went along with the plan. For a 4 month period (June - August), basically an entire Summer, I worked non-stop with only TWO days off (4th of July, and a sick day I had to take because I woke up with blood coming out of my ear).

Our project was doomed from the beginning and by the time September rolled around, I told one of the higher ups I wasn't going to work weekends anymore because of concerns for my health. He said he would tell the boss this, and I said whatever. The next day a company wide e-mail gets sent out that basically said, "If you don't notify your direct supervisor in advance of not being able to work weekends, you'll get a write up." Two weeks later, I "forgot" to notify my supervisor that I wasn't going to come in on the weekend (more like I didn't give a crap).

The next Monday, I get called into HR, and the lead HR person (a 250 pound Texan woman who walked with a limp) told me to come in and take a seat. She said the boss decided that I was going to get let go that day in a morning meeting with the managers. They said I was getting let go for not working well with the team, and being disruptive to the working environment. They handed me an envelope with $1,200, which was my vacation time compensation and told me I couldn't go back to my desk to get my stuff, I had to have a friend at work get it. At the time, I was so tired from the months of overtime, I kind of just smirked, and said, "Okay, see you guys later."

I went home, drank a lot, and called some friends who might have some leads for a new job. That most important thing I did that night was make the decision that I'd do whatever it would take to never work for someone else again, and all my actions from that day have lead to where I am now. It took a while, but I met the right people, made the right friends, and prayed a lot.

4 months after I was "terminated", that boss shutdown the company and everyone was let go. The building to this day is still vacant, it's been years. I wouldn't murder the guy, or hurt him. I'd actually thank him, he gave me a glimpse into everything a company could do wrong, and I learned a lot from it.

My boss is the freakin man. We're good friends and he always backs our design team up.
No complaints. I've always got lucky with bosses with the exception of my last position in my current company on another team. Absolutely horrible, uninformed, and got walked all over by other employees.

Positive: Not a micromanager, I basically know what I'm responsible for and as long as I get it done accurately and in time he doesn't bother me. I actually took a bunch of his responsibilities when I started full time so I'm sure he appreciates the freedom it affords him to focus on his own projects. My pay is fair, benefits ok, bonus good (max IRA contribution every year + some spending money). Is also good at understanding what is within my scope of specialized knowledge and what is without...while I know HVAC systems in a rudimentary fashion my education is business and thus I am not expected to estimate huge jobs. He feels comfortable having me quote small stuff <$5000 but knows my limitations in that regard.

Negative: Can be stubborn and dismissive, especially when it comes to ways to change things. I get the logic that this procedure has worked for this long with this many employees etc and it basically comes from the fact that I think he's satisfied with the company he's built (and rightfully so). I however would love to focus on growth, but it's often met with resistance. Finally, the natural growth has reached a point where some of the current inefficiencies can't be ignored, so authorization to pursue such developments with firm capital is easier to get.

Some clients that i have on the side are another story. Most of them are small business owners with people working for them and boy, i'm sure glad that i don't have to work full time for any of these people. I would have to shoot myself.

my manager is a really good guy, there is only one problem. He was born and raised in another country, where apparently deodorant is not used. Well if you live in south florida, its kind of a must, so lets just say things tend quiet bad by the afternoon

Negative: Can be stubborn and dismissive, especially when it comes to ways to change things. I get the logic that this procedure has worked for this long with this many employees etc and it basically comes from the fact that I think he's satisfied with the company he's built (and rightfully so). I however would love to focus on growth, but it's often met with resistance. Finally, the natural growth has reached a point where some of the current inefficiencies can't be ignored, so authorization to pursue such developments with firm capital is easier to get.

I used to work for my Dad as well. He to was stuck in this frame of thinking. I'd come up with some stuff to make things better/easier or whatnot. He'd be like yeah great, then wouldn't want to put the money in it or just preferred his old way. After the first year kind of gave up since I realized change wouldn't happen until he stepped aside which I knew was going to be longer then I'd like to be there.

I no longer work with him. Not because of these exact reasons but I think because of his constant short term vision caused his business' downturn and allowed his largest client to decide they were capable of doing what we did for him in-house.

my manager is a really good guy, there is only one problem. He was born and raised in another country, where apparently deodorant is not used. Well if you live in south florida, its kind of a must, so lets just say things tend quiet bad by the afternoon

I'm an independent IT consultant so most places I get contracts at are in a world of hurt. Worst boss was my original one out of college at Andersen. Guy was a walking GQ ad. His croonies called him Chipster and he called everybody back Bobster, Davester etc, I used to throw up in my mouth when they spoke. He used to ridicule or tease me about where I went to college, SDSU, it's party school etc etc. He was a Yale grad and UCLA MBA. He would make me fly on my own time, Andersen culture of the mid 80's, but the problem is I supported small business on their ERP software so I'd be in the Bay area for a day or two, In Southern Minnesota for a day or two and maybe Houston for a day or two every week and have to fly in and out on Sat/Sun. Did not help my family life one bit, that and he would give my time away to clients and then drill me for not having 40 hours billable. I lasted 3 1/2 years before I just walked . Current client manager is ok but tons of mixed signals, micromanages like crazy and wants to see everything in writing before I even do it. Perfect example is a Project charter, design spec and test plan for something that takes me 3 to 4 hours to code and unit test. How the hell is a day and half of paperwork and signatures justified there and he does that constantly, good thing it's all billable. He's just CYA'ing himself as they let almost the entire staff go over the last 3 or 4 years. Mostly good guy though just a roadblock to anything useful.

My boss is 3700mi away in London. She's cool as hell and I think we identify with each other. We both want to get ahead and this has been evident. We used to be mortal enemies - or so our mutual old boss (we don't have enough electrons to begin describing how much of a dick he was) wanted us to believe.

When I first started working for her, another coworker told her I was a "careerist" and just wanted to get ahead. When I was questioned, I said.. "Yes, partially. But, I want to be paid a lot too." Followed by, "How can you trust someone with this much responsibility that isn't even smart enough to look out for themselves?"

That was it. Solidified. I truly like working for her. I always jokingly ask how wide her office is and mention that I'm looking at some new leather couches. She appreciates that. I do too. She wants to get ahead, she knows I know how to, we make big waves and ppl notice.

She's demanding though... I often get calls on a random Friday/Sat night that go, "There's a BA flight in 4 hours from JFK, you have a seat. Check your email when your connection lands to be briefed. Bring 2 suits and a tux. See you in (insert random European/Asian city here). I jokingly call her M. lol So where's my Aston Martin???

There have been days that I land at LHR at 7:30am on the UA flight and I'm back outa LHR by 5pm. It's always nice to stop in London for the day and catch up while en route to....?

Back when I was starting out my career I worked for one of the weirdest individuals I've ever called a boss.

Physically, he was a freak. 6'8'', 175 pounds, and he wore the same leather jacket, dirty undershirt, and wrangler jeans combo every day. He was old, and his hair was balding, white, and always unkept. He had a very low, almost baritone voice. When I first walked into the companies building, I saw that half the office was empty, and sort of messy, like a building might look during a move. I later found out that this boss laid off 80 people a month before I came, and the mess was from people taking their stuff and being escorted immediately out of the building.

This guy had no idea how to run a company. His "business" was in its 12th year and hadn't turned a profit in at least 4. I heard his house was mortgaged 2x over, and when we would get food on certain days provided by the company, they would use alternating credit cards to prevent the limit on either from being exceeded, this company was on its last legs. He hired friends into top positions within the company who were obviously not qualified. His brother was the lead IT guy, but it was basically a "for-show" position because he knew nothing, and instead had this little asian guy do everything, he was an intern.

He also spent most of the day smoking cigs, Lucky Strikes. One time I went downstairs to the outdoor patio area of the building and sat down to take some rest from work. He was out there smoking. I thought I'd ask him for a cig, and he casually pulled one from his leather jacket, and handed it to me (his hand was near my head because he was so tall). I took one puff of the cig, and I almost barfed right there. The cig had this nasty taste to it when you took a puff, it was a combination of a normal cig, onions, and feet. I tried to take a few more puffs but I just couldn't stomach it. So when he turned around, I flicked the nasty cig into the gravel and went back to work.

One day, this guy decided we'd work overtime unpaid. That was the beginning of my deteriorating relationship with him. I was young and stupid, and went along with the plan. For a 4 month period (June - August), basically an entire Summer, I worked non-stop with only TWO days off (4th of July, and a sick day I had to take because I woke up with blood coming out of my ear).

Our project was doomed from the beginning and by the time September rolled around, I told one of the higher ups I wasn't going to work weekends anymore because of concerns for my health. He said he would tell the boss this, and I said whatever. The next day a company wide e-mail gets sent out that basically said, "If you don't notify your direct supervisor in advance of not being able to work weekends, you'll get a write up." Two weeks later, I "forgot" to notify my supervisor that I wasn't going to come in on the weekend (more like I didn't give a crap).

The next Monday, I get called into HR, and the lead HR person (a 250 pound Texan woman who walked with a limp) told me to come in and take a seat. She said the boss decided that I was going to get let go that day in a morning meeting with the managers. They said I was getting let go for not working well with the team, and being disruptive to the working environment. They handed me an envelope with $1,200, which was my vacation time compensation and told me I couldn't go back to my desk to get my stuff, I had to have a friend at work get it. At the time, I was so tired from the months of overtime, I kind of just smirked, and said, "Okay, see you guys later."

I went home, drank a lot, and called some friends who might have some leads for a new job. That most important thing I did that night was make the decision that I'd do whatever it would take to never work for someone else again, and all my actions from that day have lead to where I am now. It took a while, but I met the right people, made the right friends, and prayed a lot.

4 months after I was "terminated", that boss shutdown the company and everyone was let go. The building to this day is still vacant, it's been years. I wouldn't murder the guy, or hurt him. I'd actually thank him, he gave me a glimpse into everything a company could do wrong, and I learned a lot from it.

That was inspiring. Good for you man. A lot of people should follow your example. May I ask in what field you are working in?